This book has been on my “To read” list for a bit. A co-worker read it before me and said how much she loved it. So as soon as I had finished the book I was reading, I got ahold of this one – The Demon of Unrest.
As someone who loves history, I truly found this book fascinating. It takes place during the time leading up to the Civil War. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston: Fort Sumter.
Master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.”
At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between both. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous Secretary of State, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans.
Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late.
I had learned about Fort Sumter in school history classes, but this book went so much deeper. There were things I had never heard before. The events that led up to the Civil War were much more complicated that I was aware of.
Mary Chesnut compiled a diary full of information and insight. That diary would be published in a few forms. “Mary Chesnut’s Civil War,” “Mary Chesnut’s Diary,” and “A Diary From Dixie,” just to name a few. Many entries from the diary are quoted in this book giving you a first hand account of some key events.
Throughout the book, you are treated to things Lincoln wrote, military communications, and diaries from other key people. These things go deep into the personal conflicts each of these people were dealing with.
The book is a long one, but I rarely felt that it was dragging. If you are a history buff, I cannot recommend this book more highly.
Back in the early 2000’s I was the Afternoon Drive guy on B-95. My shift was from 2pm to 7pm. I got to “kickoff” the weekend every Friday at 5pm. They were calling the 5pm hour “The Drive at Five.” It was far from an original name.
When the clock hit 5PM, I had a factory whistle that I would play followed by the voice guy saying, “Welcome to the weekend!” This was immediately followed by 4 or 5 weekend oriented country songs. Since it is now officially the weekend here in Michigan, I thought I’d showcase some of those songs.
I’d usually start with one of these two classics –
Finally Friday – George Jones
Take This Job and Shove It
Then I would rotate from the following:
Working for the Weekend – Ken Mellons
Redneck Rhythm and Blues – Brooks and Dunn
It’s Five O’clock Somewhere – Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett
Come Friday – Aaron Tippin
Wrong Five O’clock – Eric Heatherly
Yee Haw – Jake Owen
That got me thinking about other formats. What might I play if I was working at an oldies station? Maybe:
Rip It Up – Little Richard
Friday on my Mind – The Easybeats
Five O’clock World – The Vogues
If I was at a classic rock station? Maybe:
Saturday Night – Bay City Rollers
Working For The Weekend – Loverboy
Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting – Elton John
What song is YOUR weekend song? Drop it in the comments!
This week my wife and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. If you are unfamiliar with the story of how it happened, I have blogged about it before. You can read about it here:
As a matter of fact, this week’s photo for the Flashback appears in that blog.
This photo is one of my favorites from our trip. We both are very happy. Because the ceremony was done at the county courthouse, there was no official photographer. If I had to pick one selfie that I love, it would be this one. (Ok, I’m sure there are other selfies of the two of us that are just as good or better. But for this blog, it’s this one.)
Sam asked me yesterday, “Did you ever think we’d make it seven years?” Without hesitation, I said, “Well, yes!” I went on to say that I had never felt more sure about anything. As the years have gone by, my love continues to grow for her. Through ups and downs, we’ve done it together. I am so very grateful to have the relationship that we do.
I love my wife beyond anything I could write. Seven years down, and forever to go!
I had to take Andrew for an EMG last week. Knowing what to expect because of the EMG I recently had, I wondered how he’d do.
I was surprised at just how well he did. When the shock happened, he said it tickled. He wasn’t scared or anything. He was thrilled when they told him he could pick a toy at the end of the visit.
He decided on a homemade wooded truck.
I mentioned last week that Ella got to read in front of her class. They posted a picture of it on the class page.
We’ve been fluctuating between chilly and mild temperatures here. The other day it was like 60 degrees. The kids loved being outside. Andrew was just running around and being silly.
Ella was excited to be out riding her bike.
Both kids have been all about the Xbox since I put it in our room. We do have a couple games for younger kids, but they always want to play my race game or golf game.
Sam was relaxing in bed one night. She caught a great cameo of Andrew and me golfing.
They had a spirit week at Ella’s school. Monday was “wear green” day. Ella found a cool St. Patrick’s Day dress. Little did she know, two other classmates had the same dress! She loved every minute of that
Today, at dance class, she lost her first tooth. So tonight I get to play Tooth Fairy. I asked AI to make me the Tooth Fairy and the results were … Scary.
Welcome back to The Music of My Life, where I feature ten songs from each year of my life. In most cases, the ten songs I choose will be ones I like personally (unless I explain otherwise). The songs will be selected from Billboard’s Year-end Hot 100 Chart, Acclaimed Music, and will all be released in the featured year.
As you might remember, I started this last May on my birthday. I have tried to work a week or two ahead on this feature. One thing I have noticed as we move into the late 2010’s and 2020’s is that there are not that many songs that mean anything to me. No life event connects with them. There are only a few I may like. That being said, it is very possible that I will combine two or three years into one week. I also have a feeling that there may be upcoming years where I don’t pick any songs. If that happens, the feature will wrap sooner than expected, which may be a good thing.
2014 was actually a good year of music for me. I turned 44 that year. I had a new career in sleep and was still able to do a few hours on the radio. Many of the songs from this year were ones I played on the air …
It didn’t mean much to me in 2014, but Let It Go by Idina Menzel sure does today. It is the first song I danced to with my daughter at our first Daddy/Daughter Dance. That may have been the only song we danced to that first year, but I will never forget it. It is from her favorite movie, Frozen.
“Kids don’t want to stand out all the time, they want to fit in,” Menzel said regarding this song. “It’s about finding that thing that makes you different that’s going to make you special and extraordinary.”
Let It Go won for Best Song at the Oscars in the 2014 ceremony. It also earned an entry in the 2016 Guinness World Records book for “Most Languages Featured on a Single.” It was recorded in 42 different languages for Frozen‘s foreign releases.
Let It Go
Paramore was primarily known for their rock music. Ain’t It Fun is a very different sound for them. It was more pop/dance than rock. (From songfacts) Bassist Jeremy Davis told The Guardian that the band had their largely teenage fan base in mind. “After we started writing weird stuff like ‘Ain’t It Fun,’ we got nervous,” he said. “But that was a comfort. We’ve grown and we don’t like the same music we liked, so why would [our fans] not? That idea kept us pushing ourselves.”
Songfacts also says, “This upbeat track mixes gospel, soul and some Prince-style R&B. Hayley Williams told The Sun: “Taylor (York) and I came up with the melody and I thought about Prince, too. Then it got layered with more groove and funk and all the cool elements. The next thing I know there’s a gospel choir in the studio and we have that track. It’s been so liberating to write this record.”
The xylophone in the song really helped the song to stand out on the air. That’s what I remember most about the first time I played it. “Well, that’s certainly different,” I thought.
The song is catchy. I don’t know that I’d call it an earworm, but you get hooked right from the beginning.
Ain’t It Fun
The next song is one that I have written about before. I chose it in the 2021 Song Draft that Hanspostcard hosted. It is one of those songs that I love to listen to. Here is the blog I wrote for the Song Draft:
Who would have imagined that in 2014 a Cole Porter song would be popular? Thanks to Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Porter’s Anything Goes was very popular … again.
The recording of the song took place over a year in New York City. Bennett’s quartet was present, as well as other musicians. It received mostly positive reviews. The Chicago Tribune said that it found Gaga to be in “good voice” and Bennett in “classic form”. V Magazine called the song a “fresh take” on the original. MTV News said “Gaga is clearly having a blast, doing her best Broadway belting with tons of energy and enthusiasm”
On the Billboard Jazz Digital Songs chart, the track debuted at the top, becoming Gaga’s second entry on that chart, following “The Lady is a Tramp”. The song was Bennett’s 15th entry on the Jazz Digital Songs chart, and his third number-one single. “Anything Goes” sold 16,000 digital downloads in the US during the week of its release.
Lady Gaga’s voice is one that could easily sing the American Song Book. The true sound of her voice is lost on current music. And how could you not like Tony Bennett?
Anything Goes
One song that really stands out to me from 2014 is Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran. It was one that many brides I DJ’d for picked as their first dance. It’s a great choice.
The first time I heard it, it reminded me a bit of Into the Mystic by Van Morrison. Little did I know that Ed says Van Morrison heavily influenced this song. He told songfacts:
“No one’s really channeled Van Morrison for a long time. Everyone always channels, Michael Jackson and the Beatles and Bob Dylan, and I feel like Van Morrison is a key figure in the music that I make.”
The video features Sheeran and his partner Brittany Cherry ballroom dancing and was shot all at once in 16 mm film. “I wanted the video to be a little different, so I opted for ballroom dancing,” he explained when the video was released in October 2014. “I had lessons for five hours a day when I was on my US tour last month.”
Songfacts says: With electronic music ruling the airwaves, this was one of the few hit songs of its time with a guitar solo (played by Chris Leonard), which is near the end of the song in place of a bridge. Running 4:41, it was also very long by 2014 hit song standards, although this extra time makes the song more appealing as a first dance wedding number.
Thinking Out Loud
When Shake It Off hit the radio, it drove me crazy. At that time, Taylor Swift was everywhere. There was a ton of publicity leading up to her 1989 album. This was the lead single.
This song IS an earworm. Even if I switched stations or turned down the monitors in the studio, I still found that it would run through my head. Gee, I don’t know why? The phrase “shake it off” shows up 36 times in this song, mostly in the chorus. “Shake” appears 70 times. URGH!
Songfacts says: The song originated from Swift learning to overcome her fear of not being accepted. “I think it kind of takes not caring what people think about you a step further to kind of locking the fact that people don’t get you,” she explained to BBC Radio 1’s Breakfast Show. “Kind of taking pride in the fact that you know you are and it honestly doesn’t matter if someone else doesn’t want to understand you. We go through these scenarios in so many different phrases of our lives, no matter what it is.”
“I’ve had to learn a pretty tough lesson in the past couple years that people can say whatever they want about at any time, and we cannot control that,” said Swift. “The only thing we can control is our reaction to that… You can either let it get to you… [or] you just shake it off.”
Shake It Off
Another big song that worked well as school dances was Shut Up and Dance by Walk The Moon. I used to love watching folks jumping around and dancing to it. It was always great to hear them shout the chorus as it played.
Vocalist Nicholas Petricca told American Songwriter magazine the story of the song:
“Well, (Guitarist) Eli Maiman and I were working on something that’s now the verse. And it had this great feeling that we couldn’t stop playing over and over. We didn’t have a chorus and we didn’t have a subject or a lyric.”
“So over the next weekend, I went to this awesome party they have at The Echo in Echo Park, Los Angeles, called Funky Soul Saturday. The story of ‘Shut Up and Dance’ is based on a true story of hanging out there with my friends… this girl actually told me to shut up and dance with her. We took it back to the studio and it spun out very quickly after that.”
It was only later that Petricca realized he could use the girl’s comment as a song lyric. “At the time, I was in my head and not with it,” he said. “She’s one of my best friends and pulled me out into the moment, and that really became the subject of the song. Encouraging people to let go of whatever it is that’s bothering you and get into your body and out of your head. Coming home and working on the song I thought, this is it. This is totally it.”
Shut Up and Dance
OneRepublic makes a second appearance on the list with an amazing song – I Lived.
Songfacts says:
While opening for U2 in the summer of 2012, OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder observed the effect of Bono’s lyrics on the Irish band’s fans, as they sung along to their songs. “These lyrics are so from his gut and so like honest, but poetic,” Tedder told Radio.com. “They’re not trying to be ambiguous or trying to be cool.”
Inspired, Tedder decided that with the Native he was going to write lyrics people could relate to, which meant he would have to share a little bit of himself. Accordingly, nothing on the album is a work of fiction. This song, for instance is a love letter to the singer’s son, Copeland Cruz, who was born in 2010.
How often are we told to live life to its fullest? The chorus is an example of doing just that:
I, I did it all I, I did it all I owned every second that this world could give I saw so many places The things that I did Yeah, with every broken bone I swear I lived
The song’s music video pays tribute to teenage fan, Bryan Warnecke, and his struggles living with cystic fibrosis. The clip ends with Tedder driving Warnecke to a concert at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado to see OneReublic perform.
I Lived
Another song that jumped out of the radio at listeners was Honey, I’m Good by Andy Grammer. The song almost sounded out of place on Adult Contemporary stations because of its “country” sound. Grammer even went as far as to call the song, “a fun hoedown!”
The song’s music video features a montage of around one hundred real-life couples that have been together from several months to over 70 years. Grammer said, “My manager and I were on the phone talking about an idea for the video. We wanted to press home the concept that this isn’t a song about a guy who’s cheating. This is about a guy who is being true. So we started calling all of our friends and family that we knew had been married for a long time and asked them to lip sync the song.”
“They all started sending videos in and we started asking by word of mouth if people knew a couple who’d been married a long time. It was so fun getting all our friends and family involved that we decided to just put it up on social media and ask the fans to be part of the video too. We asked them to get their parents and grandparents to be in it also.”
Honey I’m Good
Finally, another song that just clicked with the school dance crowds, as well as adult crowds. Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars struck gold with Uptown Funk.
The intro reminds me of the intro to Smoke on the Water. As it progresses, you get another instrument, then another, etc… Songfacts explains:
This intro sets the stage for the rest of the song, introducing the hooky “doh doh doh” vocal and the clapping drum sound (made with a Linn drum machine) that show up throughout the song. Before the intro ends, various other key instruments in the song appear: bass, snare drums, cheery guitar, horns and a swishy synth effect.
Mark Ronson, Bruno Mars and the producer Jeff Bhasker (Kanye West, Drake, Alicia Keys) share writing and production credits on the song. It originated from a lick that Mars and his band were playing on tour.
“When we hit on that opening line – ‘This s–t, that ice cold. Michelle Pfeiffer, that white gold’ – we knew that we had the seed of this really exciting idea,” Ronson told Billboard magazine. “I pushed myself much more than I have on anything else in the past.”
Mars and Ronson create a monster party vibe in this song, starting with the title: “Uptown” implies high class, while “Funk” is the rhythm and release. The lyrics are way over-the-top, with Mars explaining that he’s so hot he’s forcing dragons into retirement. It’s clever, fun and outrageous, but also meticulously constructed with a mix of rhyming patterns.
The song went on to be the biggest of 2015.
Uptown Funk
So there you have it, 2014 in song. Did I miss one of your favorites from that year? Tell me about it in the comments.
Next week, we’ll look at 2015. My list includes the first song my wife and I ever talked about (before we were married) and one by her favorite country singer. It also includes a “tribute” to Frank Sinatra and the worst dance song since Gangnam Style! All that and more next week.
Happy Birthday to The Wicked Mr. (Wilson) Pickett who was born on this day in 1941.
He was born in Prattville, Alabama where he began singing in the Baptist church choir. He was the fourth of 11 children and eventually left to live with his father in Detroit in 1955. It was there that he joined a gospel group called The Violinaires. He toured with them for four years. He was lured by the success of gospel singers who had moved to the lucrative secular music market, joined the Falcons in 1959.
His work with the Falcons helped him to embark on a solo career. In 1965, he had his first hit “In the Midnight Hour,” which featured Steve Cropper and Donald “Duck” Dunn from Booker T & the MGs. Many hits followed including Land of 1000 Dances, Funky Broadway, and 634-5789.
It is hard for me to pick a favorite Wilson Pickett song, because they are all SO good. There is one song, however, that always sounds fresh to me. It is still a song that people dance to at parties and weddings. It always seems to be on the Top 200 list of songs that DJ’s get requests for, as well. That song? Mustang Sally!
According to Rolling Stone magazine’s Top 500 Songs, “Mustang Sally nearly ended up on the studio floor – literally. After Pickett finished his final take at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, the tape suddenly flew off the reel and broke into pieces. But the session engineer, the legendary Tom Dowd, calmly cleared the room and told everyone to come back in half an hour. Dowd pieced the tape back together and saved what became one of the funkiest soul anthems of the ’60s.”
In honor of the holiday, I felt it was only appropriate to pick a couple Irish tunes. Luckily for you and me, Bing Crosby sang a few in some of his films.
First, from his 1944 film “Going My Way” …
… Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral
Next, one of my favorites from the 1949 film “Top O’ The Morning”….
… the beautiful “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”…
Wishing you a Happy St. Patrick’s Day! May you find your pot of gold at the end of your rainbow!
Comedian Henny Youngman (Photo by Mickey Adair/Getty Images)
The “King of the One Liners,” Henny Youngman, was born today in 1906. He told pretty much the same jokes for 70 years, and they always got laughs! This is sort of a re-blog, as I have posted these before, but here are some of my favorite Henny Youngman lines:
Take my wife… Please!
Why does the New Italian navy have glass bottom boats? To see the Old Italian Navy!
A hooker stopped me on the street and told me ‘I’ll do anything for $50.’ I said, ‘Paint my house.’
I was so ugly when I was born, the doctor slapped my mother.
A little Jewish Grandma is at the Florida coast with her little Jewish Grandson. The grandson is playing on the beach when a big wave comes and washes the kid out to sea. The lifeguards swim out, bring him back to shore, the paramedics work on him for a long time, pumping the water out, reviving him. They turn to the Jewish Grandma, and say, “we saved your grandson.” The little Jewish Grandma says, “He had a hat!”
I told my mother-in-law my house is your house. So she sold it.
Just got back from a pleasure trip: I took my mother-in-law to the airport.
My wife ran after the garbage truck, yelling, “Am I too late for the garbage?” “No, jump in!”
A priest is sent to Alaska. A bishop goes up to visit one year later. The bishop asks, “How do you like it up here?” The priest says, “If it wasn’t for my Rosary, and 2 martinis a day, I’d be lost. Bishop, would you like a martini?” “Yes.” “Rosary, get the bishop a martini!”
A man calls a lawyer’s office. The phone is answered, “Schwartz, Schwartz, Schwartz and Schwartz.” The man says, “Let me talk to Mr. Schwartz.” “I’m sorry, he’s on vacation.” “Then let me talk to Mr. Schwartz.” “He’s on a big case, not available for a week.” “Then let me talk to Mr. Schwartz.” “He’s playing golf today.” “Okay, then, let me talk to Mr. Schwartz.” “Speaking.”
I miss my wife’s cooking – as often as I can.
I made a killing in the stock market. I shot my broker.
I once wanted to become an atheist, but I gave it up – they have no holidays.
A guy complains of a headache. Another guy says, “Do what I do. I put my head on my wife’s bosom, and the headache goes away.” The next day, the man says, “Did you do what I told you to?” “Yes, I sure did. By the way, you have a nice house!”
An Israeli soldier who just enlisted asked the Commanding Officer for a 3 day pass. The CO says, “Are you crazy? You just join the Israeli army, and you already want a 3 day pass? You must do something spectacular for that recognition!” So the soldier comes back a day later in an Arab tank! The CO was so impressed, he asked, “How did you do it?” “Well, I jumped in a tank, and went toward the border with the Arabs. I approached the border, and saw an Arab tank. I put my white flag up, the Arab tank put his white flag up. I said to the Arab soldier, “Do you want to get a 3 day pass?” So we exchanged tanks!
A man doesn’t know what real happiness is until he’s married. Then it’s too late.
I take my wife everywhere, but she keeps finding her way back.
My wife – She has an electric blender, electric toaster, electric bread maker. Then she said, “There are too many gadgets, and no place to sit down!” So what did I do? Bought her an electric chair.
My other brother-in-law died. He was a karate expert, then joined the army. The first time he saluted, he killed himself.
While playing golf today I hit two good balls. I stepped on a rake.
A man goes to a psychiatrist. The doctor says “You’re crazy” The man says “I want a second opinion!” “Okay, you’re ugly too!”
A patient goes to the doctor and says “Doctor, it hurts when I do this.” The doctor replied, “Then don’t do that!”
My horse’s jockey was hitting the horse. The horse turns around and says “Why are you hitting me, there is nobody behind us!”
My wife will buy anything marked down. Last year she bought an escalator.
My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met.
A doctor says to a man “You want to improve your love life? You need to get some exercise. Run ten miles a day.” Two weeks later, the man called the doctor. The doctor says “How is your love life since you have been running?” “I don’t know, I’m 140 miles away!”
A person asked me, “How do you prepare for the stage?” I told her, “Well, it’s like this. You go to diction school. They teach you to fill your mouth with marbles and talk right through the marbles. Each day you take one marble out. When you’ve lost all your marbles…”
My son complains about headaches. I tell him all the time, when you get out of bed, it’s feet first!
My wife and I always hold hands. If I let go, she shops.
Last night I ordered a whole meal in French. Even the waiter was amazed – it was a Chinese restaurant!
A drunk was in front of a judge. The judge says “You’ve been brought here for drinking.” The drunk says “Okay, let’s get started.”
My wife got a mudpack and looked great for two days. Then the mud fell off.
A man is at the bar, drunk. I pick him up off the floor, and offer to take him home. On the way to my car, he falls down three times. When I get to his house, I help him out of the car, and on the way to the front door, he falls down four more times. I ring the bell and say, “Here’s your husband!” The man’s wife says, “Where’s his wheelchair?”
I haven’t spoken to my wife in 18 months – I don’t like to interrupt her.
In high school football, the coach kept me on the bench all year. On the last game of the season, the crowd was yelling, “We want Youngman! We want Youngman!” The coach says, “Youngman – go see what they want!”
A man goes to a psychiatrist “Nobody listen to me!” The doctor says “Next!”
Some people ask the secret of our long marriage. We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week. A little candlelight, dinner, soft music and dancing. She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays. (My personal favorite joke from Henny!)
When I told my doctor I couldn’t afford an operation, he offered to touch-up my X-rays.
I’ve been in love with the same woman for forty-one years. If my wife finds out, she’ll kill me.
Just think, if it weren’t for marriage, men would go through life thinking they had no faults at all.
I bought my wife a little Italian car. A Mafia. It has a hood under the hood.
My grandmother is over eighty and still doesn’t need glasses. Drinks right out of the bottle.
My best friend ran away with my wife, and let me tell you, I miss him.
My wife is on a diet. Coconuts and bananas. She hasn’t lost any weight, but she can sure climb a tree.
A doctor has a stethoscope up to a man’s chest. The man asks “Doc, how do I stand?” The doctor says “That’s what puzzles me!”
I asked my wife, “Where do you want to go for your anniversary?” She said: “I want to go somewhere I’ve never been before.” I said, “Try the kitchen.”
Someone stole all my credit cards, but I wont be reporting it. The thief spends less than my wife did.
The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret.
The horse I bet on was so slow, the jockey kept a diary of the trip.
My dad was the town drunk. Most of the time that’s not so bad; but New York City?
Two Santa Clauses on the corner. How can you tell the Polish one? He’s the one with the Easter basket.
I came home, the car was in the dining room. I asked my wife, “How did you get the car in here?” She said, “Easy, I took a left at the kitchen.”
Doctor says to a man “You’re pregnant!” The man says “How does a man get pregnant?” The doctor says “The usual way, a little wine, a little dinner…”
A doctor gave a man six months to live. The man couldn’t pay his bill, so he gave him another six months.
A bum asked me “Give me $10 till payday.” I asked “When’s payday?” He said “I don’t know, you’re the one who is working!”
This guy asked his doctor, ‘Will I be able to play the piano after my operation?’ And the doctor says ‘Sure.’ And the guy says, ‘Funny, I couldn’t do it before.’
The Doctor says “You’ll live to be 60.” “I am 60!” “See, what did I tell you?”
My wife told me the car wasn’t running well. There was water in the carburettor. I asked where the car was, and she told me it was in the lake.
There was a girl knocking on my hotel room door all night! Finally, I let her out.
A woman was taking a shower. There is a knock on the door. “Who is it?” “Blind man!” The woman opens the door. “Where do you want these blinds, lady?”
My dressing room is next a woman’s dressing room. There was a little hole in the wall. I let her look.
My brother-in-law had to give up his last job because of illness. His boss became sick of him.
My brother-in-law talks a big game. He tells every one he is a diamond cutter. Diamond cutter!? He mows the lawn at Yankee Stadium.
I loved this quote from Henny about his career – He was quoted in an interview with the online magazine Eye: “I get on the plane. I go and do the job, grab the money and I come home and I keep it clean. Those are my rules. Sinatra does the same thing, only he has a helicopter waiting. That’s the difference.”
I love history. I love reading historical fiction and historical non-fiction. In 2019, Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch began their “Conspiracy” series. It started with The First Conspiracy about the filed plot to kill George Washington. Then there was The Lincoln Conspiracy which was about a failed plot to kill Lincoln. This was followed by The Nazi Conspiracy which told of the failed plot to kill Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin.
This time around it is the JFK Conspiracy which is about a plot to kill Kennedy before he even entered the office as President.
I had never heard this story before, but it was very good. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:
From the New York Times bestselling authors of The Nazi Conspiracy and The Lincoln Conspiracy comes a true, little-known story about the first assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy, right before his inauguration.
Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of the United States, is often ranked among Americans’ most well-liked presidents. Yet what most Americans don’t know is that JFK’s historic presidency almost ended before it began—at the hands of a disgruntled sociopathic loner armed with dynamite.
On December 11, 1960, shortly after Kennedy’s election and before his inauguration, a retired postal worker named Richard Pavlick waited in his car—a parked Buick—on a quiet street in Palm Beach, Florida. Pavlick knew the president-elect’s schedule. He knew when Kennedy would leave his house. He knew where Kennedy was going. From there, Pavlick had a simple plan—one that could’ve changed the course of history.
Written in the gripping, page-turning style that is the hallmark of Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch’s bestselling series, this is a slice of history vividly brought to life. Meltzer and Mensch are at the top of their game with this brilliant exploration of what could’ve been for one of the most compelling leaders of the 20th century.
Meltzer and Mensch do such a wonderful job presenting this. There are the familiar characters that we all know: Bobby Kennedy, Joseph Kennedy, and Jackie Kennedy. There are names from behind the scenes, like the men of the Secret Service, too. The book does a wonderful job describing to readers the plan to kill Kennedy. It also shows some of the more “touching” moments with Jackie Kennedy and all that she went through.
I suppose any book about JFK would have to talk about the assassination, and they save that for the end of the book. It all ties together really. Clint Hill is the Secret Service man who is assigned to protect Jackie Kennedy. He is also the agent in those chilling pictures from Dealy Plaza who runs to the President’s car and jumps on the back after the shots are fired.
I have yet to be disappointed by this series. I hope that they continue to find stories like this one to enlighten readers.
The Oxford Dictionary defines a “rite of passage” this way: a ceremony or event marking an important stage in someone’s life, especially birth, puberty, marriage, and death.
Wikipedia says: “A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status is society.“
Some popular rites of passage include:
Getting a driver’s liscence
Completing toilet training
Getting married
Retirement
Getting baptized.
Graduation
While the rite of passage I am talking about today may not be as big an event as the above mentioned, it means a lot to me. It is one that has been passed down to all the males in my family. My grandfather introduced them to my dad. My dad introduced them to me. I introduced them to my two oldest sons, and now my youngest son.
Thursday night, Andrew was fighting wearing his CPAP. This is a regular occurrence that requires some bargaining by mom or dad to get him to do so. Usually, it means he can watch his tablet for a bit or a short show on TV. (Yes, I am aware of how bad TV and screen time before bed it, but a dad’s gotta do what a dad’s gotta do!) My wife’s suggestion floored me. It made me giddy!
“What if dad puts on the Three Stooges for you?”
Did I truly hear what I think I heard? Yes. Yes, I did.
So my son crawled up into bed with us and I found an episode on Youtube.
He chuckled and laughed out loud through the entire episode. Moe slapping Larry or bonking Curly on the head made him laugh almost uncontrollably. I laughed along with him and the two of us, just like his brother’s before him, bonded over slapstick comedy. When I left for work on Friday, he told me that he can’t wait to watch “the three funny guys” again with me.
My wife posted her own picture on social media with the following caption:
“I guess I didn’t know that the love of The Three Stooges was a genetic thing when I married Keith. Now here I am stuck watching this stupidity as a bribe for Andrew to wear his CPAP machine.”
This is a true rite of passage. I couldn’t be more proud! Atta boy, son! The torch has been passed ….
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 